Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board

Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known as Vyapam (व्यापम; an abbreviation of its Hindi name Madhya Pradesh Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal, व्यवसायिक परीक्शा मण्डल), is a professional examination board of Madhya Pradesh, India. It conducts various tests for admission to professional courses and streams. It is the largest examination conducting body of Madhya Pradesh and comes directly under the Directorate of Technical Education (Government of Madhya Pradesh). The Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board is a self-financed, autonomous incorporated body of State Govt. The Government has re-constituted the Board of Directors for taking decisions on policy and organizational matters through Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board Act. 2007.

It was in national news for the Vyapam scam, which was a massive admission and recruitment scam involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen. After the scam was unearthed, 2000 people were arrested, including the state's former education minister Laxmikant Sharma and MPPEB's exam controller Pankaj Trivedi.

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh (MP) (/ˈmɑːdjə prəˈdɛʃ/,   , meaning Central Province) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore. Nicknamed the "heart of India" due to its geographical location in India, Madhya Pradesh is the second-largest state in the country by area. With over 75 million inhabitants, it is the sixth-largest state in India by population. It borders the states of Uttar Pradesh to the north-east, Chhattisgarh to the south-east, Maharashtra to the south, Gujarat to the west, and Rajasthan to the northwest.

The area covered by the present-day Madhya Pradesh includes the area of the ancient Avanti mahajanapada, whose capital Ujjain (also known as Avanti) arose as a major city during the second wave of Indian urbanisation in the sixth century BCE. Subsequently, the region was ruled by the major dynasties of India, including the Gurjar pratihara, Mauryans, Gupta Empire, Harshavardhana, then Rajput kings of Paramara, Chandelas, Bundela, Tomaras, subsequently by the Mughals and later by the Marathas. By the early 18th century, the region was divided into several small kingdoms which were captured by the British and incorporated into Central Provinces and Berar and the Central India Agency. After India's independence, Madhya Pradesh state was created with Nagpur as its capital: this state included the southern parts of the present-day Madhya Pradesh and north-eastern portion of today's Maharashtra. In 1956, this state was reorganised and its parts were combined with the states of Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh and Bhopal to form the new Madhya Pradesh state with Bhopal as its capital; the Marathi-speaking Vidarbha region was removed and merged with the then Bombay State. This state was the largest in India by area until 2000, when its southeastern Chhattisgarh region was made a separate state.

Vyapam scam

The Vyapam scam is an admission & recruitment scam involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), popularly known by its Hindi acronym "Vyapam" (Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal), is a self-financed and autonomous body incorporated by the State government responsible for conducting several entrance tests in the state. These entrance exams are held for recruitment in government jobs and admissions in educational institutes of the state. The scam involved a collusion of undeserving candidates, who bribed politicians and MPPEB officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.

The scam involved 13 different exams conducted by Vyapam, for selection of medical students and state government employees (including food inspectors, transport constables, police personnel, school teachers, dairy supply officers and forest guards). The exams were taken by around 3.2 million students.

Abhishek Mishra

Abhishek Mishra (born 29 August 1977), secured a stunning victory in the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Elections, from the Lucknow North constituency, representing the Samajwadi Party. He is currently the Minister of State Attached to Hon'ble Chief Minister (Vocational Education & Skill Development Ministry) in the cabinet of Mr. Akhilesh Yadav.

From Academia to Politics

A PhD from the University of Cambridge Mishra's research area was Strategy and Innovation. He served as an Assistant Professor in the Business Policy Area at IIM Ahmedabad. Apart from numerous other courses and MDP's both for the public and corporate sector, In 2010, he directed a program in Management and Leadership skills training for MCTP Phase V level 140 officers of the Indian Police Service. In 2012, he entered politics by joining the Samajwadi Party, and was immediately asked to contest the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election, 2012 from the Lucknow North constituency. His campaign was helped by students from IIM who campaigned in the constituency over the weekends.